Snowy
Owl is a rare occurance in California. This was taken just north-east
of San Francisco (Solano County) in January of 2006. The previous
records of Snowy Owls in CA were in the Snowy Owl invasion of 1916-17,1966-67,
1973-74 (when at least 43 Snowy Owls were found in the state and the
largest flight of Snowy Owls on record, or at least since 1896-97
when "flocks" were in the state), and 1977-78 when 3 to
4 showed up in the far north-west.
Note: I assume this is a young male for multiple reasons. First is
that the young males tend to move the furthest south in the US (Kerlinger
and Lein 1986). Second, probably the key point to look for in
determining sex is the extent of the white bib (larger on males)...
that shows on this individual. Other factors that do not show well
in this photo with young males are lesser black markings on the nape
along with fewer and narrower black markings overall than females.
To a lesser degree males tend not to have "as dark" of black
markings (rather more brownish black)... although this bird did have
very dark (black) markings on its back.(see
other identification photos link above)